Configuring the server

The OSU web server has many configuration options, which are controlled by a set configuration files (.conf files in the www_system directory). The .conf files have a particular format that is parsed by the server at startup/restart to control most aspects of its operations, such as:

Network-related parameters (e.g. preferred hostname)
Logging/statistics tracking options
Mapping files types to their corresponding MIME type
Script operation
Mapping URL paths to VMS directories
Marking particular URL paths for restricted access (protection)

The default configuration files are designed to be editted by the servermaint script (see below) rather than by a text editor, although they can be edited 'by hand' if you insist.

ServerMaint script

The servermaint script is a C program, linked against CGILIB, that uses an associated template file (.servermaint) to present the configuration data as an HTML form. The template allows you to build an interface with semantics (e.g. checkboxes to enable features) that don't match the configuration file syntax.

Both the user guide and default configuration file HTTP_MAIN.CONF by default authorize username 'SERVER' with password 'MAINT' on servers running on non-privileged ports (e.g. 8000). When running the server on a privileged port (e.g. 80), you must edit the following 2 files:

Servermaint_protection.conf: Uncomment the protect rule, this forces the server to use servermaint.prot to control access to the servermaint script.
Servermaint.prot: Customize to the usernames and sub-nets you wish to allow access. Note that if you use '*' as the password, you must install the authenticator with privileges as well (by modifying http_systartup.com).

As your first exercise in using servermaint, you should change the 'rootpage' in HTTP_PATHS.CONF to /demo/index.html (the original default page for the server).

ServerMaint private directives

The servermaint script stores 2 pieces of the meta-data needed for its operation in the configuration file through the use of 2 additional pre-processor directives (declared via a .ignore rule):

.authorize user[@host] [password]: Authorizes who can access the configuration file via this script. A configuration file may specify many authorized users.
.form template-file: Specifies the template file associated with this configuration file, the configuration file must contain exactly one .form directive to be usable by the servermaint script.

Bypassing Servermaint

If you prefer not to use the servermaint script and edit the configuration file directly, the convert_config.com procedure will read a configuration file and generate a new configuration file with the pre-processor rules expanded. Note that a converted file cannot be mechanically converted back to the pre-processed form. See the comments at the top of convert_config.com for details.

David Jones, The Ohio State University